National parks

On this day, 30 June, in 1864, American President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act. The Act gave the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California, ‘upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation’. Today, more than 4 million people visit the site every year, which has become both a national park and World Heritage Site. We have rambled through the pages of The British Newspaper …